


Rouge Sous la Pluie

by pickwicklingpapers



Series: Cophine AUs [9]
Category: Orphan Black (TV), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Rogue One AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 12:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9272126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickwicklingpapers/pseuds/pickwicklingpapers
Summary: rogue one au where they both work for galen erso and die in the rain, holding hands





	

**Author's Note:**

> sorry not sorry
> 
> i don't think you need to have seen rogue one for this?

 

Cosima was born and raised in a small colony on Kothlis. The planet was sparsely inhabited, and most inhabitants were Bothan. Her parents kept a small facility for the Empire, with the help of four other staff. She had few friends, and fewer her own age. She was not allowed to socialise with non-humans. She occupied herself with spare wires and machines, and built small droids for company. When her talent was spotted and opportunity arose, she left without a glance.

Delphine doesn’t know where she was born, only that she was raised on Eadu by various officials, passed from one to the other and taught engineering by whoever had time. As a girl, she would daydream of a mother who came back for her, who had nothing but time and love. As a young woman, she devoted herself to her work.

Both grew up isolated, alone, and tinkering.

 

* * *

 

There’s five technicians working on the Death Star. They’re the mechanics, making models of the station to check that it fits, and delicate little parts that have to fit just so or the whole thing will collapse. There’s six if you include Galen, but he’s more of the chief architect. He pops up occasionally to throw them a new blueprint, or to double check the exact types of screw that they’re using. Yeah, they could have done it without him, but the man’s a genius and he’s cut completion time by a decade or so. His research into kyber crystals is practically famous in the right circles, and rightly so. The idea of using them, man, it’s brilliant. Cosima had seen holos of his speech at the institute of Applied Science, and fuck was it good.

In her mind, there’s only one person on the entire planet who’s better than him, and that’s Delphine.

God, Delphine.

The first time she’d walked into the facility had been five years ago now, at the height of planning for the space station. They hadn’t needed the engineers until the plans were fully complete, and Cosima had been based on Coruscant, fixing whatever needed fixed and getting wasted every night. Eadu had been a…change. It was dull, it was small, and it was always fucking raining. The people were mostly old men, who were a) old, and b) men, so there were no future prospects there. The women were all the uptight Empire kind – those that had gone through the Academies as soldiers, and had the hairstyles to prove it. Those women tended not to just want a bit of fun, and Cosima was all about the fun.

She hadn’t met Delphine for a couple of days after her transfer, both busy with helping set up the new equipment for the facility. She’d first met the blonde whilst half buried under one such machine, uniform stripped to the waist and grease in her hair. Man, she’d regretted that later. The girl had looked so perfect, so untouchable, with that _accent_ , goddamn, that Cosima had frozen and promptly dropped a spanner on her face. Forty minutes later, with blood stains on the both of them, Cosima had finally got a name. Delphine’s hair was curly and loose and fucking bounced, like it was from some ancient Nubian holodrama and when she bit her lip, all thoughts of fun flew off, replaced by sheer and utter love.

It had taken three months more to get a com frequency, and another two to get a date.

They were both stuck on Eadu for the foreseeable future and the weather outside had been shit, so the date had actually been lunch in the staff canteen, but still. It was followed by another one, and that was what mattered.

 

* * *

 

Galen Erso comes by to see them sometimes. Them personally, not just the engineers as a group. He’s with the engineers quite a lot, now that the station’s actually nearing construction and not just a concept. Galen Erso sits with them sometimes at lunch and looks at them with sad eyes. It takes a few repeat occurrences of this for Cosima to relax and stop calling him Galen Erso, and just call him Galen instead.

Galen’s sad eyes continue, though, especially when Delphine smiles or Cosima laughs a little too hard, and snorts her drink back up so very ungracefully. He watches them dancing one night, out on the landing platform in the rain, and Cosima thinks she sees him cry. He had a daughter, Delphine tells her that night as the lie in bed, a daughter who must have died. She strokes Cosima’s hair and tells, with the knowledge that comes from growing up on a main base, the story of Galen Erso. According to the rumours, she was only a little girl when Galen left the Empire for some unknown reason, and when he came back neither she or her mother were there. She’d be about their age by now, and maybe that’s what makes him so sad. Maybe the sight of them, young and alive and in love is just a bit too much for him to handle.

 

* * *

 

There’s another side to Galen’s sadness – he knows what this base will do, what the Empire will do. And here are two young girls, young and alive and in love, who are making it happen. He’s an old man, but these girls are the same age as his Jyn. They shouldn’t be creating a genocide. Sometimes it’s a bit too much for him to handle.

 

* * *

 

The work continues on and on and on, and to be honest, Cosima just wants the station to be functional because they’ve been promised leave and she wants to take Delphine somewhere nice. The poor girl’s never left Eadu. Cosima’s going to take her to Yavin 4, or Alderaan, or Naboo. Somewhere with trees and grass and green. Somewhere with sun, because her girlfriend is way too pale, and also she’d quite like to watch her cope with sunburn because it would be hilarious. She’s going to take her somewhere that’s not rocks and rain, and she’s going to propose the fuck out of it. It’s been five years and she’s known since day one that she’ll be with Delphine until the day she dies. She’s dying with that girl, because there is no point living without your heart.

 

* * *

 

Neither Cosima or Delphine ever question what the space station is for. Like, yeah, it’s the size of a small moon, and sure, it’s got some hella powerful weaponry, but on the other hand the rebellion needs to chill the fuck down and as nothing else has worked, maybe it’s time to shock them into not disrupting the peace in the galaxy, right? And a weapon like this will stop people charging across fields at each other, at death. It’ll minimise causalities with maximum effect. At least, that’s what Cosima says the one time Galen brings it up, Delphine nodding alongside her.

For some reason, his eyes look disappointed even as his body supports Cosima’s little speech, like he’s trained himself to hide his own thoughts. Delphine quickly forgets it as Cosima drags her back to their quarters. Cosima’s lips have that effect sometimes.

 

* * *

 

It’s a funny thing, war.

People on the wrong side rarely know that they’re on the wrong side. Wrong is subjective - it’s based on the truths that are told. Both sets of propaganda say the same thing. Both sides hear such _terrible_ stories about what the others do. The way to win a war is to dehumanise the opposition, because only then will people volunteer, will choose to kill. After all, it’s not people like _them_ that they’re killing.

War makes monsters of men.

 

* * *

 

After that, Galen stops coming to see them so much, which is sad but the launch date is coming up, so they both reason that he’s probably got more important things on his mind. He still visits the engineers just as much, but he doesn’t seek them out specifically. They see him at lunch with one of the cargo pilots a few times, but then again, Galen’s always made sure that he knows everyone who works on the base personally. He’s a good man, Galen is. Solid. Dependable. Just the sort of person the Empire needs. He’s the kind of man you could trust with anything, they think, eating their rations as quickly as possible so that they can get back to work. So kind. Loyal.

 

* * *

 

The station’s practically finished by now, and the construction fleet’s just putting the last touches together. The dish’ll go on soon, and by then all the crystals will have been harvested from Jedha, and Galen Erso’s greatest triumph will be complete. They’re both proud to have been a part of it, and Cosima thinks that the first place she takes Delphine will be to go see it. They deserve that. It’s been a major part of their life for so long, and to be honest, she doesn’t know if she’s glad or sad to see it go. She hopes that they get to keep working with Galen on his next project though, because the dude is so fucking _cool_.

In anticipation of the end of the project, she pays one of the cargo pilots to bring her something. In the time she’s been here, she’s made friends with a lot of the staff – on such a small base, everyone knows everyone sooner or later, and there’s so few girls that they all feel they should stick together – and it’s a simple matter to get Alison from Flight (the single, most uptight Academy graduate in the history of Academy graduates) to get Krystal the cargo pilot to pick her up something from Sarah and Helena (two sisters that Alison somehow knows, honestly the woman has so many connections she’s a fucking spider in a web, and she never forgets anyone’s birthday) and blame the delay on a dodgy compressor.

The stone that they deliver to her is perfect. A single crystal, tinted blue like the skies that Delphine’s never seen, that reflects light beautifully, and will look even better on Delphine’s finger. She works in secret for weeks, measuring Delphine’s finger roughly whilst she sleeps and then appropriating official Empire equipment to measure it exactly. The rest of the base knows exactly what she’s doing and always offer her a hand – whether by giving her better equipment, or distracting Delphine when shit! Cosima really needs to hide. After a month of solid hard work, squirreled supplies and more than a little subterfuge, the ring’s ready. Even Alison gives it a nod of approval and, _dude_ , from her that’s like a hug from Emperor Palpatine.

Cosima looks at her handiwork and vows that the ring won’t leave her pocket until it’s on Delphine’s finger.

 

* * *

 

It’s raining again when word comes down that Director Krennick is on his way and he wants to see them. The whole team. The first thing that enters Delphine’s mind is that merde, something’s gone wrong with the station and he’s here to take it out on them before his superiors take it out on him. She grabs Cosima’s hand as they rush out the door, following the older men. She sneaks a look at her girlfriend and Cosima squeezes her hand slightly before dropping it. They have to appear professional in front of the Director. He’s a Director. They can’t disappoint.

They hurry out into the storm, and the wind nearly blows them backwards. Cosima’s heart’s thudding in her chest as they line up, all glancing worriedly between Krennick and Galen. What’s gone wrong? What’s gone so tragically wrong the station that they’re in danger of being held accountable for it? Galen’s face is smooth, blank. Krennick’s face is apoplectic with rage. The engineers hold their breath. Glancing from one superior to the other, seeing the uncertainty well-hidden on Galen, and the utter rage so badly hidden on the Director’s. The lights of the platform reflect on the black of the Deathtrooper’s armour, blinding Delphine momentarily. The rain is soaking into the all, flattening hair and clothes, creeping through pores and soaking the very inner layers of their uniforms. They stand there in the storm, wanting so badly to clutch at each other as Krennick audibly swallows his rage and begins to speak.

Krennick’s accusing them of leaking the plans for the station, and Cosima nearly faints in relief. It sure as hell wasn’t her, and she knows it wasn’t Delphine either. The two of them fully support the Empire, and their superiors know it. They’ve worked for years without a break to get that station operational. It’s okay, they’re safe, because they didn’t do it and that’s how justice works. Yes, it’s a blow, but she trusts the Empire to retrieve the data before the rebels get ahold of it. They probably already have it if Krennick’s here, shouting at them. Besides, even if they do have the data, there’s not a single flaw in those plans. The station is fully operable and prepared for every outcome. That was the whole point of their job, to ensure that it could not be defeated in any way. The rebels can’t build their own either, not whilst they’re hiding on some backwater planet. Besides, that’s too much missing money for even the Senate to cover up. They’re safe, and they can still have that wedding and Delphine can still see the sun. Cosima sighs. They’ll find the traitor, and that’ll be the end of it.

Then the guns are being cocked at them, and oh god why did no one own up? The rebellion are just as cowardly as they’ve always been told and _oh god_. She feels Delphine’s hand slip into hers again, and she can feel the ring in her pocket, burning a hole in her leg through the three layers of material and all she wants to do is marry the girl and she pulls Delphine in to her and buries her face in that hair and _why did no one own up_

Then someone does and suddenly it’s all as clear as a bell.

His time spent away from the Empire. Why no one knew where he was. Why his daughter and wife disappeared. All those little rumours about base, the ones that followed him like a shadow. The time he spent with that cargo pilot, Rook. The one who had apparently defected. Because of course, of course Galen Erso with his sad eyes had given the pilot the plans and told him to run. And, for a moment, Delphine feels nothing but pure anger. And then she just feels sad. What kind of man sabotages his life’s work, and that of his friends? Because that’s what they are. They’re all friends. They’ve all spent years on this miserable little base, everyone has, and they’ve all become friends. What kind of man does that to people he cares about? One with no honour, one with no decency. To side with against the peace and security of the Empire is one thing, but to trick them all into caring for him is another.

Now Galen Erso has betrayed them and the question must be asked. How long has he been betraying them for?

Delphine straightens up as Krennick realises the consequences of what Galen just said. She keeps hold of Cosima’s hand as the Director realises that he’s been betrayed by one of his closest friends. All she can think is how close they came to being shot, how close Galen was to letting it happen, the petit bâtard. What a dick, as Cosima would say.

She looks to Cosima and Cosima looks back at her. They smile. The traitor is apprehended and they are safe. They squeeze each other’s’ hands, and Cosima thinks of the places that she will take that beautiful woman because the station is functional and they have six years’ worth of leave to use up and she deserves laughter so fucking much.

They fall with smiles on their faces as a broken man kneels and red soaks into the rain.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm alive??? also i kind of have more of these if you want? i did contemplate having delphine work with galen and betray cosima, but then i decided that was just wayyy to cruel


End file.
